East Africa Digital Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in Higher Education
Authors: Matthias Möbius, Ulrich Wünsch Kampala, November 2020
Contents
1 List of Abbreviations 3 2 List of Figures 4
3 List of Tables 5
Management Abstract: Digital Entrepreneurship in 4 6 Higher Education in the EAC Overview on Results (Narratives and Observations) 5 8 and Related Suggestions and Recommendations 5.1 Six Narratives and Twenty general observations for action(s) 8 5.2 Thirty suggestions and recommendations for actions derived from research 12 5.3. Specific suggestions and recommendations for each state of the EAC 16
6 Introduction 18
6.1 Research question(s), methodology 19
7 The EAC Digital Entrepreneurship Ecosystem 21
7.1 Preliminary consideration A: What does “tech and digital entrepreneurship” mean? 22 7.2 Preliminary consideration B: An Afro-centric model of being an entrepreneur and teaching entrepreneurship 24 7.3 Brief country overview on key factors with regard to the research question in the EAC 24 7.4 Economy and talent: A 2017 forecast 27 7.5 Entrepreneurship education in the EAC, in general and in specific 29 7.6 Qualifications and environment of the up and coming digital entrepreneur 35 7.7 Culture: The water the entrepreneur is born into and has to swim in 40 7.8 On Social Entrepreneurship 42 7.9 Focus on women 43 7.10 Creative economy, the Cultural and Creative Industries 45 7.11 Selected observations and recommendations from secondary sources research on skillset, women and social entrepreneurship, Creative Industries 48 Case Reports and Case Studies on (Digital) 8 50 Entreprneurship in the EAC / Africa 8.1 Eric Muthomi from Kenya 50 8.2 Andrew Mapuya from Uganda 51 8.3 Dorothy Gehttuba from Kenya 52 8.4 Denyse Uwineza from Rwanda 53 8.5. Further data from case reports of EAC countries and other African countries 54
2 9 A first Resumée: A Specific Ecosystem Model and 58 some preliminary conclustions 9.1 Patterns and themes emerging from case report research 59
Qualitative Interviews: Towards an Up-to-date Picture 10 62 of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in the EAC 10.1 General questions to all interviewees 64 10.2 Questions to specific subgroups of interviewees 69 10.3 Evaluation and interpretation of findings 70
Quantitative Survey: Insights from the Digital 11 75 Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in the EAC 11.1 Demographical factors 75 11.2 Questions, Observations, and interpretations 76 11.3 Summary of survey findings 90
Bibliography / Sources 93
Appendix 97 A Qualitative Interview Guidelines and Questions 97 B Quantitative Survey questionnaire 98 C The Authors 101
1. List of Abbreviations
CENIT@EA Center for Excellence for ICT in East Africa CUE Commission for University Education (Kenya) CCI Cultural and Creative Industries EAC East African Community DAAD Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, German Academic Exchange Service GIZ Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, German Development Agency ICT Information and Communication Technology IUCEA Inter-University Council for East Africa MSME Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise NM-AIST Nelson Mandela African Institute for Science and Technology OECD Organisation for Cooperation and Development SME Small and Medium Enterprise TVET Technical and Vocational Education and Training UNCHE Uganda National Council of Higher Education
3 2. List of Figures
Figure 1: Six Central Narratives of the research. …………..………………..………………..……. 8 Figure 2: The ecosystem a university with their administration, lecturer body, and digital entrepreneurship programs is embedded in. …………..……………………. 12 Figure 3: Country overview for Rwanda, South Sudan, and Tanzania.…………..…………. 25 Figure 4: Country overview for Uganda, Kenya, and Burundi……………………………..…… 26 Figure 5: Origin of Andela developer recruits 07/2018-09/2019…………………………..... 29 Figure 6: Domains of the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem.…………..………………..……………. 39 Figure 7: Country Dimensions for Tanzania by Hofstede.…………..………………..………….. 41 Figure 8: Country Dimensions for Kenya by Hofstede.…………..………………..………………. 41 Figure 9: The different layers and factors determining the success of entrepreneurs in East Africa.…………..………………..…….…………..………………..……………………….. 49 Figure 10: Four Level Ecosystem Model………..…….…………..………………..…………………… 58 Figure 11: SWOT analysis………..………………..…….…………..………………..……………………….. 59 Figure 12: Number of Interview participants by country.………………..…….…………..…… 62 Figure 13: Word-cloud of the whole texts of all qualitative interviews…..……………….. 63 Figure 14: Central narratives obtained from the interviews.…………..…….…………..……. 70 Figure 15: Word-cloud of qualitative interviews after condensation and evaluation of the document.……………..…….…………..…………………..…….…………..…………. 71 Figure 16: Survey participant country distribution..……………..…….…………..………………. 75 Figure 17: Gender distribution of survey participants.……..…….…………..………………….. 75 Figure 18: Age brackets of survey participants.……..…….…………..…………………………….. 75 Figure 19: Professional background of survey participants..……..…….…………..…………. 75 Figure 20: Answers of all participants for Question 1: “At university, a student can obtain all relevant skills needed to start his/her own enterprise.”………….. 76 Figure 21: Answers for Q1 from Companies..……..…….…………..……………………...... 76 Figure 22: Answers for Q1 from Universities………………………..…….…………..……………… 76 Figure 23: All 193 answers of all participants for Question 2: “A student has easy access to the following relevant entrepreneurship support at university (please tick a maximum of 3).” ……..…….…………..…………………………...... 77 Figure 24: All answers for Question 3: “University lecturers have the skills to support the successful creation of student ventures”.……..…….…………..…. 78 Figure 25: Answers for Q3 from universities.……..…….…………..………………………………… 79 Figure 26: Answers for Q3 from companies.……..…….…………..…………………………………. 79 Figure 27: All answers for Question 4: “Women do have a harder time than men to start an enterprise.”……..…….…………..……………………..…….…………..…………… 79 Figure 28: Answers of women regarding Q4.……..…….…………..……………………..…………. 80 Figure 29: Answers of men regarding Q4.……..…….…………..…………………………………….. 80 Figure 30: Answers of Universities regarding Q4.……..…….…………..……………………….... 80 Figure 31: Answers of Companies regarding Q4.……..…….…………..………………………….. 80 Figure 32: Answers for Q4 from Hubs.……..…….…………..…………………………………..…….. 80 Figure 33: All answers for Question 5: “At university, students can learn how to come up with viable digital business models”.…………..……….…………………. 81 Figure 34: Answers for Q5 from Universities.…………..………..…………..…………..………….. 81 Figure 35: Answers for Q5 from Hubs.…..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..…….. 81 Figure 36: Answers for Q5 from Companies.…..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..…… 82
4 Figure 37: All answers for Question 6: “At university, students can learn coding well enough to build software products for a digital enterprise”…………………….. 82 Figure 38: Answers of all participants for Question 7: “Rank the following methods to improve learning outcomes in entrepreneurship education from 1 (best) to 5 (least good).” ……………………..……………………..……………………………. 83 Figure 39: Answers for Question 7 given by participants from the companies………….. 84 Figure 40: Answers for Question 7 given by participants from Universities.……………… 84 Figure 41: Answers for Question 7 given by participants from Hubs.…………..……………. 85 Figure 42: All answers for Question 8: “You, personally, learned most of your financial management skills at…”……….……….……….……….……….……………….. 86 Figure 43: All answers of Question 9: “Please rank the following items according to what will make digital student ventures more successful from 1 (most impactful) to 7 (least impactful)”.…….……….……….……….……….………………….. 87 Figure 44: Most impactful interventions voted by women. …….……….……….……….…….. 88 Figure 45: Most impactful interventions voted by men.…….……….……….……….……….…. 88 Figure 46: All answers for Q10: “Please rank the following items according to what will hinder you the most in becoming a digital entrepreneur after university from 1 (biggest hindrance) to 7 (smallest hindrance)”…………….. 89 Figure 47: All answers for Question 11: “Please rank the following items according 89 to why companies in the ICT sector do not offer student internships from 1 (biggest) to 6 (smallest)”……….……….……….……….……….…………………………… 90
3. List of Tables
Table 1: Google Search keywords for different countries………………………………………….. 21 Table 2: Competency areas of entrepreneurs…………………………………………………………… 36
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4. Management Abstract: Digital Entrepreneurship in Higher Education in the EAC
The research and study on the digital entrepreneurship ecosystem in higher education in the East African Community (EAC) was commissioned by CENIT@EA to provide insights into the status quo concerning digital entrepreneurship in higher education across East Africa. It was undertaken in 2020. It aims to provide an assessment of the scenario at hand and recommendations on how to sustain functional educational programs that serve their communities, their students, their private sector, their nation. The observations and recommendations necessarily are of a general nature as they are related to the EAC as a whole. They would then have to be adapted to the specific national and local context. Outline and sources as well as methodology and a first brief overview of the study are to be found in the next chapters. Detailed observations and recommendations as well as data are presented in the long read of this document.
Central narratives regarding digital entrepreneurship and the education thereof emerged from research:
(1) Tech and entrepreneurship are regarded as a path to a beneficial and profitable future
(2) Universities do not provide the knowledge and skills needed to thrive as an entrepreneur
(3) Actors are regarded as heroes, game-changers - women are of importance in the tech-mix
(4) A change in the mindset of the actors and stakeholders is direly need – the “African way” needs to be put on the map within a globalised field
(5) Social entrepreneurs are problem-solvers for their communities – and should be at the heart of the “African way”
(6) Local structures often represented by small and medium enterprises are a relevant set – the creativity of a connected community is a gift, a network of diverse players a bonus.
The university, being at the heart of the study is being valued yet is being seen as needing reform, focus, vigour and close direct relations with the private sector. This will help educate digital entrepreneurs in a thriving entrepreneurship ecosystem being nourished by a participatory, reciprocal mindset and spirit.
06 Central recommendations for actions and actors derived from the evaluation of various sources:
o Integrate experiential learning into the curricula (field trips, varied and tailor-made internships, projects, non-academic experts from various areas, interdisciplinary courses, design thinking courses, summer schools, etc.) o Provide specific knowledge and skills students lack: business model creation, market knowledge, tech skills o Focus on valid methods: project- and practise-based teaching / integration of practise via hubs o Focus on successful interventions to create student ventures: curriculum-integration of entrepreneurship trainings / mentorship by (local) entrepreneurs / practical coding courses o Implement tandem-teaching (an academic lecturer in one class with an entrepreneur) o Design and implement entrepreneurial mindset courses; allow for a culture of open feedback
Education & & Education Content and tolerance of failure; use a semester-wise evaluation system o Promote social entrepreneurship ideas and models and integrate them into curricula
o Create and fund competitions and challenges including an online-platform to showcase results to grow awareness and funding o Award specific academic titles and honours; offer certificates, micro-skills courses, life-long learning o Create “women only” networks, meetings, challenges and disseminate success stories
o Integrate stakeholders into a (local) network: specifically connect with local hubs or incubators Networks & Awards & and financing opportunities as well as setting up an alumni network o Create and fund a student-run platform for digital entrepreneurship networking; design and fund a supranational online “entrepreneurship support desk”
o Create content in local languages and disseminate information in rural communities o Involve media in all steps of a successful build-up; create on-campus awareness o Showcase the network and its benefits in cooperating with various media; disseminate success-storie .
Awareness s of a resourceful “entrepreneurial journey”
In general, it can be said that a development of digital entrepreneurship in higher education should focus on integrating experiential learning into the curricula but also the mindset of all actors and stakeholders involved. This would be supported via growing an entrepreneurial ecosystem on several (interlinked) levels: in the program, at university, local, regional, national, separations. Involving media to relate success-stories and create awareness and pride seems mandatory. Globalisation needs the local ground and implementation of local culture; only then, a digital entrepreneur can be a problem-solver, especially in the social arena. The wealth of diversity and the power and skills of women are an asset to be leveraged. A brief overview with more elaborate and specific yet concentrated details including actors and addressees is found in the next two chapters.
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5. Overview of results, observations, suggestions, and recommendations
The research on the digital entrepreneurship ecosystem in higher education in the East African Community (EAC) was undertaken in 2020. It aims to provide an assessment of the scenario at hand and recommendations on how to sustain functional educational programs that serve their communities, their students, their private sector, their nation. The observations and recommendations necessarily are of a general nature as they are related to the EAC as a whole. They would then have to be adapted to the specific national and local context. The following presents ideas and results achieved by researching and evaluating secondary and primary resources. Data and derivations thereof are presented in the long read of this document.
5.1 Six narratives and twenty general observations for action(s)1
Figure 1: Six Central Narratives of the research
Main actors and addressees of those narratives are Academia, the Private Sector including entrepreneurs, companies and hubs, the Government, the Public sector, and the Media. They are all necessary through their various responsibilities such as education policies by Governments.
1 The items above are set in a random order. 08
Main actors and There is a general agreement among sources consulted, that: addressees:
a) Universities do not provide the relevant skills needed to start an enterprise (71% of survey participants) b) Entrepreneurs and digital entrepreneurship are and should be problem solvers for the people, the community, the society, the country – social entrepreneurship can be a complimentary motivating force. c) Technology (ICT) is an enabler for digital transformation which is the task of the digital entrepreneur, his or her raison d'être, in order to be a game changer – solutions often have local roots. d) The role of the university in an entrepreneurship ecosystem would be to identify entrepreneurial talents, to train the talent with the needed skills, to build a local entrepreneurial culture, to create opportunities for exchange and networking, to showcase entrepreneurship as a career option – moreover, universities should offer lifelong learning opportunities beyond degree programs, create human capital for the private sector, help to identify and build market-relevant ventures, should hold campus competitions and award money, as well as connecting to (the) other stakeholders as
one of the central strongholds in an entrepreneurship network. e) A more practice-oriented curriculum in (digital) entrepreneurship is still needed – integrating case studies, field trips, expert lecturers (i.e. founders, practitioners, entrepreneurs,), networking in the entrepreneurship ecosystem. f) A close linkage between university leadership, university curricula, university lecturers and the private sector is needed to foster the entrepreneurial ecosystem (to which universities belong) – through this, a change in the mindset of students and society could be achieved. g) Experiential learning is mandatory for core skill learning in becoming and being a (digital) entrepreneur – capacity building needs specific settings and didactics.
9 h) Mentorship and coaching, direct exposure to active entrepreneurs, peer to peer learning, and stakeholder perspectives (finance, tech, user,) are mandatory for a valid (digital) entrepreneurship education – guidance and topical exchange at eye-level nourish the up-and- coming entrepreneur. i) Women have a harder time starting an enterprise (49% of all survey participants agree, 72% of women say so)
j) Women and girls need to be integrated and represented more and better in digital entrepreneurship (courses as well as ownership of process, content, business) – the enormous potential and the relevant contribution of women yet has to be tapped more and
better via specific programs and offers.
k) Women and girls as well as diversity in general (age, background, gender, level in power) are key to a sustainable and flourishing network – good decision making and resilient systems need input from all stages and corners of life.
l) A recognition of the needs and structures of rural areas have to be integrated and represented more and better in (digital) entrepreneurship (courses as well as ownership of process, content, business) and its curricula – untapped potential in rural areas can and should be recognized and made visible via specific programs
tailored to the specific situation on site.
m) The global perspective on ICT and (digital) entrepreneurship as well as education is needed to complete the curricula and the perspectives of being an entrepreneur – international solutions and jobs need international knowledge portrayed in curricula and expert
exchange. n) Good governance measures (such as a reliable legal system, clear taxation, transparent decision making at governmental levels, copyright security, consultation of stakeholders,) support the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
o) Further ICT-infrastructure improvement (connectivity, internet speed, availability of hardware and software,) will support the entrepreneurial ecosystem – this would be an achievement of and for the whole entrepreneurial ecosystem. p) Access to differentiated financing tools and funding is mandatory for further growth and nourishment of the entrepreneurial
ecosystem – a broad mix of finance tools and funding scenarios that
cater to local needs is of help, integrating micro-finance and SME- related tools.
10 q) An African and East African context needs to be integrated into curricula of (digital) entrepreneurship and the definition of what an entrepreneur and an entrepreneurial ecosystem is – “glocalization” and local (African) market driven solutions are key. r) The role of self-employed micro-entrepreneurs and the role of SMEs has to be validated and recognized as of importance for local structure building taking into account the “gig economy” being significant for a globalized digital economy. s) Media coverage and exposure (via the appropriate media from print of all forms, to radio, TV, and social media/internet) to create and disseminate a motivating narrative beyond pure rational information is needed to develop the full potential of an entrepreneurial ecosystem. t) A “realistic” approach towards (digital) entrepreneurship is of value and motivating in the end: Not over-expanding expectations, taking the actual situations and environments into account, staying flexible, and especially sustaining women and youth.
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5.2 Thirty suggestions and recommendations for actions derived from research2
The recommendations for action are presented from the perspective of the university at the centre of the (digital) entrepreneurship ecosystem and its programs. Those actors are: University (integrating students, lecturers, administration and programs), private sector (with its companies, hubs, entrepreneurs, finance systems, and related infrastructure), government (including politics, legal system, and related infrastructure), public sector (integrating society with its communities), and media (touching most fields and actors).
Figure 2: The ecosystem a university with their administration, lecturer body, and digital entrepreneurship programs is embedded in
The suggestions and recommendations all are addressed at the university with a background in (digital) entrepreneurship education and ecosystem. They are clustered in regard to their focus on A. structure of programs, B. didactics and running of programs, C. networking and connecting stakeholders with regard to programs and the related entrepreneurship ecosystem. The five following related actors and addressees (see above) are mentioned within the recommendation as before.
2 The following items are set in a random order, it is not intended to provide a ranking of efficacy or any other determination. 12
A. Structure of programs 1) Create and offer content not only in English or French but in regional languages and disseminate the content online and to rural communities
2) Create summer schools taking place in rural areas as a starter for interest in digital entrepreneurship
3) Use the top ranked methods for entrepreneurship education: Project-based teaching such as setting up a student enterprise / Integration of entrepreneurship hubs into university entrepreneurship promotion offers / Practice oriented teaching by
people from the private sector as lecturers
4) Integrate learning and training about the knowledge and skills students lack most: digital business models / technical skills to build a great product / market knowledge for digital products 5) Integrate experiential learning in curricula; invite active entrepreneurs into university; go on field trips to start-ups, SMEs, and larger businesses
6) Integrate internships and externships in the curricula, thus strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem
7) Integrate alumni into entrepreneurship course teaching and networks, offering them lifelong learning opportunities and further certificates
8) Create and fund “women only” networks, meetings, and institutions (for exchange on IT, coding, entrepreneurship, mentoring,); integrate circles of girls; offer “women only” competitions; support equal pay and equal rights initiatives in tech and entrepreneurship.
9) Allow for a culture of open feedback and allowance of failures; learning from mistakes is as important as success story learning
10) Create a semester-wise evaluation system for the execution of the entrepreneurship education and the status of the entrepreneur- ship network that is independent, transparent and neutral
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11) Award titles and honours, these being important means of recognition and visibility as in university degrees, in competition
prices, in certificates of training and micro learning
12) Integrate – varied and tailor-made (short-term and longer-term, skill-focussed and benefit-for-all-focussed) internships – into the
curricula
13) Create open classes for mindset building focussing on an entrepreneurial mindset and culture change
B. Didactics and running of programs
14) Create and fund competitions and challenges (hackathons, ideation labs, innovation labs,) with the winner(s) being funded on various levels of an entrepreneurial journey
15) Create and offer interdisciplinary courses on (digital) entrepreneurship at university for other departments as part of non-entrepreneurship study programs beyond business schools
16) Create and offer micro-degree courses (online / offline) to attract entrepreneurs or others that want to enhance special skills; develop a lifelong learning journey for entrepreneurship
17) Use the top ranked interventions to impact the success of student ventures in digital entrepreneurship: Curriculum-
integration of entrepreneurship trainings / Mentorship through successful local entrepreneurs / Practical coding courses
18) Develop tandem-teaching solutions of a university lecturer connected to an entrepreneur in the field teaching together
19) Create courses that focus on stimulating an entrepreneurial mindset (curious, solution focused, business oriented, user centred, failure resilient,)
C. Networking and connecting in and for programs
20) Create and fund a student-moderated platform for the student body at university (local, country-related but EAC-wide too) to interact and network on their own, as well as a physical student club and community run by students not by university
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21) Create and fund a platform at university (local, country-related but EAC-wide too) to showcase results (solutions, ideas, successes) of digital entrepreneurship incubated at or in connection with
university to the “outside world”
22) Create and sustain an online “entrepreneurship support desk” presenting information and good practise examples in digital entrepreneurship and digital entrepreneurship education (curricula, ideas, start-up models, addresses of hubs and incubators, data bases, personal profiles of mentors, blue prints,
white papers, motivational bits,) to connect on a local level, at a
national level and across the EAC
23) Create specific cooperation systems among universities in the EAC and nationally with regard to their specific profiles and strengths
24) Promote social entrepreneurship models, ideas and successes and integrate them into curricula as an inspirational, practical, and motivational factor
25) Integrate and showcase players, stakeholders, and offers along an “entrepreneurial journey or cycle” to connect universities and hubs, incubators, financial institutions, and business angels, NGOs, government, foreign stakeholders
26) Create and run a network that relies on local partners; connect to hubs and incubators; integrate finance institutions and business angels
27) Integrate local hubs into the university entrepreneurial education providing project-based and case-study related training
28) Develop a matchmaking process to connect students (would be entrepreneurs) with coaches and mentors focussing on
expectation management and personality
29) Connect strongly to various media, disseminate relevant stories, create a campus radio, podcast, YouTube channels, etc.
30) Network with organisations of the primary and secondary educational sector to educate and motivate early on about digital
entrepreneurship
Further ideas, elaborations and recommendations can be found within the chapters.
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5.3 Specific suggestions and recommendations for each state of the EAC
The following suggestions and recommendations stem from the research performed and are based on the insight of the clusters named in the chapter before. They are formulated with the university as the centre of (digital) entrepreneurship education and its ecosystem in mind. In general, focussing on the state as a place and stakeholder, it can be stated that the countries of the EAC to a variable degree should focus (in the long-term strategic view) on:
o Going for a glocal / local approach on forming entrepreneurship education and ecosystem specifically, investing in an “(East) African way” keeping ideas such as “Afrofuturism” in mind o Acknowledging the vast difference between city, town and country and invest in talent and resources in the rural areas as well o Investing in solutions for the key industries of each state yet have an eye on applications in the field of agriculture, health, tourism, finance, the creative industries o Relating to the idea of “social entrepreneurship” as a foremost topic of the 21st century for a
ross the EAC the ross purpose-driven new economy and mindset
Country focus Country ac o Taking into account climate change and related solutions in various societal and industrial fields as a driver of change in global and local economic systems and approaches on how to do business.
Burundi o Start-up and form a relevant (digital) entrepreneurship ecosystem supporting local innovation hubs with o Support startups and the use of digitization especially in the agricultural sector where much of the export potential for the economy lies.
Kenya o connect globally using the story of rift valley as a driver of solutions and pride attracting talent from all over, becoming a centre of excellence for the EAC o sustain the business-mindedness of the Kenyan people and their hunger for success o sustain and forge a thriving, flexible and responsive digital entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Rwanda o build on the strong women-networks and knowledge in Rwanda in setting examples for the whole EAC and beyond o point to the stability of the state and the energy and reconciliation of its people in telling specific and resonant success stories of and in Rwanda o support surging entrepreneurship infrastructure that is commencing to grow in the university ecosystem through high-quality interventions and content.
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South Sudan o recognize the potential of vocational training in entrepreneruship not only focussing io university education o invest in infrastructure in special centres/hubs accessible for not only university students and provide hardware, software and fast, stable internet-access there o recognize the immense potential of the young, especially girls and women in creating a diverse entreprenurial ecosystem.
Tanzania o make connections between the bet and most entrepreneurial students and high-quality mentors o focus on the thriving rural areas and the will to leave no one behind in specialising in social entrepreneurship solution o support the formation of a congruent entrepreneurial mindset of the younger generation o build a stable network of start-ups, hubs, finance, small and medium enterprises to relate to universities and entrepreneurship centres all over the country.
Uganda o invest in special areas of the creative industries for digital solutions (as in music, fashion, media, digital agencies, etc.) o Support relevant pitch competitions, even if small, to form a sense of opportunity thorugh entrepreneurship among students o support innovation centers at universities that have started to take the stage in professionalization.
Further ideas, elaborations, and recommendations can be found within the chapters and general recommendations that cut across countries.
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6. Introduction
This study was commissioned by CENIT@EA to provide insights into the status quo concerning digital entrepreneurship in higher education across East Africa for the program itself, its stakeholders, universities in the region, innovation hubs, and other entities working to promote digital entrepreneurship. CENIT@EA is a regional Innovation Hub strong with strong focus on technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship to provide skills for digital transformation in East Africa. CENIT@EA and its various partners and contributors, under which IUCEA, the Secretariat of the EAC, GIZ, and DAAD are to mention specifically, are dedicated to promote the regional digital transformation based on scientific evidence.
The bigger picture in 2020: Digitalisation as in spread of software and hardware for enterprises and consumers, as well as a reliable internet connectivity are in demand and prove to be helpful. Investments of the last decade in infrastructure pay out, and an underwater cable of high capacity around the African continent, securing a reliable connection to the globe, is underway. All in all, it could be assumed that in times of speedy changes, of a repetition of economic crisis´3 some attitudes connected to an entrepreneur or an entrepreneurial mindset might be of value and use: creativity or the ability to innovate, stamina, and flexibility. The promotion and education of entrepreneurship then could be seen as mandatory at various levels of societal activity. Having researched and written this study from April to August 2020, some assumptions might need to be reviewed in times of rapid change just after the completion and hand in of the document. The final report, having been handed over in November 2020, contains assumptions and outlooks which, under the then given circumstances of a rapidly evolving Covid-19 pandemic situation, might be blurred or even wrong in the month to come. The Covid-19 pandemic lingered in the background of the primary research yet was not mentioned by the interviewees as a driving force in the context of this evaluation. Looking at the specific societal and economic situation and the educational system in the EAC, beyond all similarities some differences have to be stated. Considering the EAC countries by looking at statistics, literature, and interviews it can be seen that, to no big surprise, all nations and countries deal with their own specific situation. The differences might show at some items, at some level, for some issues. The same goes for similarities. One country has to be singled out considering some aspects: South Sudan. Being a very young country on the road to nationhood and structure it cannot be expected to show a developed university system or entrepreneurship ecosystem. In South Sudan the informal educational sector (as mentioned before) and the strong position of Technical and Vocational Trainings (TVET) besides university education, play an important role4. Furthermore, the data level is not as rich as for the other countries. Thus, South Sudan is sometimes included in the generalisations concerning the EAC, sometimes it has to be thought of as excluded; specifics are given where needed.
3 As described by the acronym of a VUCA-world consisting of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity. 4 Dominic Odwa Atari et al.: Technical, Vocational, and Entrepreneurial Capacities in Southern Sudan: Assessment and Opportunities. Centre for Refugee Studies, York University, Toronto, 2009. 18 6.1 Research question(s), methodology
The research question underlying the whole of this document needs to be phrased: “How do universities in the East African Community (EAC) currently promote entrepreneurship and the transfer of technologies to the market and what are the challenges, opportunities, chances and threats of digital entrepreneurship programs in higher education, especially in cooperation with the private sector?” Adding on to this, the researches, drawing upon their pre-existing knowledge, research, and expertise tried to formulate basic assumptions and hypothesis´ guiding their research. Especially the GIZ Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Guide with its methodology and insight was used as a guiding tool in this research. The acquisition of secondary data via desktop research in order to formulate a basis for primary data research and gain a broader picture of the situation, was done in accessing the following:
(1) General documents (books, articles, online-publications) on the topics being covered by the general research question (2) General studies on countries of the EAC and aspects of these (3) Specific studies on specific fields related to digital entrepreneurship in EAC countries
sources (4) Individual case reports and case studies highlighting a special aspect related to the
general research question. Deskresearch
Conducting the research mainly and predominantly “African” sources (as in written by an African author or relating to specifics of the African continent) were consulted. Among them, beyond purely scientific literature, were African online-Journals, relevant blog articles, newspapers within EA as well as non-scientific African publications in general on entrepreneurship in Africa and the EAC and government policy papers. Those, among others, did benefit and shape the desktop research.
Secondary data interpretation used a multi-methodological approach. A variety of methods from social sciences and qualitative social research was integrated5 based on theoretical assumptions of symbolic interactionism, ethnomethodology, phenomenology and hermeneutics as well as linguistics and grounded theory. Explaining, and via the circular approach of evaluating meanings by and by, creating an understanding of written text utterances form the body of the interpretation. A triangulation – using a variety of methods to tackle the research question – was conducted where possible and useful. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were undertaken (those, due to being conducted online, more in the form of problem-centred interviews than more free narrative interviews), statistical text analysis applied (as a quantitative approach), qualitative content analysis undertaken, and participant observation by the researchers related to their own practise as independent entrepreneurship trainers at university level in Uganda. During this research first networks and correlations appeared, so that aspects and hypotheses were formulated to be integrated into the second phase of primary data gathering.
5 For a reliable overview of methods and a qualified source of practical adaption Siegfried Lamnek: Qualitative Sozialforschung, 4., vollständig überarbeitete Auflage, Weinheim, Basel 2005 was used. 19
Leading over to primary data accumulation via questionnaires and interviews were already interpreted interviews documented in collections on showcasing African entrepreneurs6 being interpreted as case reports and scenario studies on cases. Primary data were accumulated via an online questionnaire. Statistical analysis was used to generate reliable interpretations.
6 Such as in Sangu Delle´s collection „Making Futures“. 20
7. The EAC Digital Entrepreneurship Ecosystem
Proposing that the Google search engine represents or mirrors the intelligence and information the world has about requested topics, a look into various search requests provides a first image of different aspects of entrepreneurship promotion in the EAC. A Google search7 on “entrepreneurship+higher+education+Africa“ delivers 244.000.000 hits; there seems to be a public interest in the topic. The same search query now including “East” before “Africa” still provides 130.000.000 entries. Asserting that this research is looking for qualified data, the search is being narrowed down to entries in the data base on “scientific articles”. This search still results in 336.000 entries. A prominent research database of university research papers delivers 67,459 entries that include “entrepreneurship+education+Africa” in their full-text. A randomly chosen set has been sampled due to keywords matches (regarding EAC, tertiary education, entrepreneurship, women, creativity). This signifies that the given topic is of interest and that aspects of it attract academic curiosity. Narrowing down the search on the country level, we do get more manageable results. Putting “Rwanda+entrepreneurship+education” into the same search query frame, the search provides 315 results, of which 19 were labelled by Google as “relevant”. Omitting “Rwanda “and inserting “South+Sudan”, the search provides 3 entries. For “Tanzania” the search provides 213 results, of which 24 were displayed. For “Uganda” it is 28 relevant entries of 283 hits on Google. For “Kenya” it is 60 relevant entries of 1240 hits on Google. “Burundi” triggers no hits at all. “Education” not only covers the tertiary sector but involved vocational training or secondary school training as well.
Table 1: Google Search keywords for different countries
“Digital entrepreneurship” seems to be a phenomenon of only three countries, namely Burundi, Kenya, and Rwanda. Whereas “university+entrepreneurship” triggers a response for Kenya only. “Innovation hub” produces a solely Burundian response, the rest of EAC is lagging behind. Yet
7 All Google search undertaken on April 11th, 2020. 21 “innovation+hubs” brings Kenya to the forefront. If we connect “country” to “innovation” again it is Burundi being way up front. Whereas “entrepreneurship” shows a rather “normal” distribution of hits and differences: Kenya and Tanzania in the lead with Uganda, Rwanda behind, then followed by Burundi and South Sudan. The erratic results continue for other combinations as well. All in all, the data show a reality that is dominated by a search algorithm, that does not answer a neutral, evenly weighed stance, but to marketing money and erratic connections. Nevertheless, relevant links are among those provided by Google and an evaluation of the first 20 entries provided was done. These documents – beyond other secondary data sources such as magazines, qualified organizations´ research publications as mentioned by the GIZ or UKaid in their concerning publications and guidelines8, governmental documents – have been assessed and evaluated.
7.1 Preliminary consideration A: What does “tech and digital entrepreneurship” mean?
“The digital” has widely changed social and economic interrelations worldwide through altering information flows, communication, computation and is picking up pace as well as gaining global attention in the African context9. Visits of global digital giant CEO’s have gained big media attention in Africa and worldwide: Microsoft (2015), Facebook (2016), Google (2017), Alibaba (various) visits10 have been topped by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s announcement in 2019 to move to the continent for several months a year as it “is decisive for the future”. Whereas the reasons for such visits are diverse, they state: Africa has appeared on the global digital landscape. Technology companies everywhere engage in dedicated programs for the continent: “Google Digital Skills for Africa”, “4Afrika” (Microsoft), “Skills for Africa” (SAP), “Digital Nation Africa” (IBM) –big international corporates are building both footholds and engagements with Africa’s digital future while the potential of the young and fast-growing continent seems limitless. Through enormous internet and smartphone device adaptation rates, the necessary platforms for digital business models arises. The steadily growing lower and upper middle classes promise a fast- growing market. A recent publication on digital entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa11 states, that “digital technologies act as enablers of positive change within education systems, social mindsets, institutional governance structures, and most importantly business and self- employment practices—in other words, across all facets of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Digital technologies, (…) are means to express “aspirations and senses of being in the world.” 12. Though, statistics and critical voices also paint an alternative version of this story. Researchers of the “Geonet” program at the Oxford Internet Institute for example state that “in any imaginable measure for digital economies, Africa does far worse than any other continent, and global divides
8 GIZ: Guide for Mapping the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, 2018 / UKaid, Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs: Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Diagnostic Toolkit, 2013. 9 See exemplary: https://books.google.de/books?hl=en&lr=&id=dpf2hL6E- GcC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=digital+economic+change&ots=sVyI3iUhbI&sig=v12CKQosdoekGFir1byjPWqk9_0#v=onepage &q=digital%20economic%20change&f=false. 10 https://qz.com/africa/1763757/twitters-jack-dorsey-jack-ma-visit-nigeria-ethiopia/. 11 Nasiru D. Taura, Elvira Bolat, Nnamdi O. Madichie (editors): Digital Entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa, Challenges, Opportunities and Prospects, London, 2019. 12 Ibid, p. 223. 22 seem to be widening.”13 Moreover, a digital divide is also manifested on much smaller scales and along lines such as geographic (urban/rural), economic, ethnic, language, and others.14 The digital economy is changing Africa profoundly and bring further opportunities as well as acceleration of such divides. At the same time, both international and African start-ups and companies are fighting for a place on the screens of the growing number of smartphones. Who, then, are the ones building digital solutions in Africa? In 2017, only 10% of investment in East Africa was absorbed by start-ups without expat Co-Founders.15 Of disclosed Venture Capital deals of at least one Million US Dollars in 2019 in Kenya, only 6% were raised by a start-up with only Kenyan Founders.16. Money made from digital entrepreneurship ventures does not necessarily stay within the country, it has been made. This goes for African countries as well: corporations with headquarters and research and development centres outside of Africa make a lot of deals as global operators. Research on this shows: “Hence, at this point in time, it is safe to say that adoption of digital products originating from the Global North has expanded into vast swaths of Africa’s user base and geography, while we have few use cases of technologies created by African digital entrepreneurs that are used by large numbers of people (within Africa or beyond). So far, the reach of digital software and applications created by African software developers and enterprises appears to be limited in scope and scale, at least when com- pared with solutions from the Global North. (…) enterprises from second-tier cities, such as Accra, Cairo, Kigali, or Kampala, usually remain confined to domestic markets.” 17.
This study will look at a limited cut-out of the entrepreneurship ecosystem. It will focus on universities and their programs as a place of learning and starting innovative digital solutions but always in connection to the private sector relations. The specific angle within the wide term “digital entrepreneurship” for this study is narrowed down to:
Digital Entrepreneurship in this study means: o Opportunity entrepreneurship in comparison to necessity entrepreneurship o Digital technology-based solutions to problems of an individual, a community, a company, an organisation, or to a certain need and want still being developed.
Wherein the former refers to spotting and leveraging market opportunities and technology as the core motivation of starting a business. Here, digital technology entrepreneurs are defined as those where software is at the core of an entrepreneur’s business model, including digital hardware solutions and going beyond businesses using digital tools as an enabling function such as using digital marketing and digital management tools in their operations, administration and similar. Furthermore, this study specifically looks at those entrepreneurs wanting to build ventures that go beyond micro-enterprises, meaning SME’s or start-up ventures of more than 10 employees.
13 Nicolas Friederici et al.: Digital Entrepreneurship in Africa, Oxford, to be published (note taken from the call for chapters). 14 http://fuchs.uti.at/wp-content/uploads/divide.pdf. 15 https://medium.com/village-capital/why-do-investors-continue-to-shortchange-entrepreneurs-in-emerging-markets- f57a8bf4a7d8. 16 https://vc4a.com/village-capital/blog/bridging-the-gap-between-local-and-expat-founder-funding/. 17 Nasiru D. Taura, Elvira Bolat, Nnamdi O. Madichie (editors): Digital Entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa, Challenges, Opportunities and Prospects, London, 2019., p. 11. 23
7.2 Preliminary consideration B: An Afro-centric model of being an entrepreneur and teaching entrepreneurship
It is recognized in the world of didactics and learning theories that the culture of the student´s environment (and the culture of entrepreneur´s environment) are strong determinants for the outcomes of a learning and entrepreneurial journey, i.e. its success18. Context defines text; he cultural environment the actions of an individual. We don’t want to discuss the topic further, rather acknowledge that the cultural factor is valued, demanded and integrated in the research demands of GIZ and IUEAC, as well as integrated in the CENIT@EA / Msc EMoS) curriculum of NM- AIST. Some randomly chosen insights might be reported briefly: Nigerian banker and economist Tony O. Elumelu coined the term “Africapitalism” to signify an economic philosophy that embodies the private sector’s commitment to the economic transformation of Africa through investments that generate both economic prosperity and social wealth19. Felwine Sarr in his book “Afrotopia” argues that certain African values need to be revitalized; such as dignity, community/communitarism, hospitality, modesty, thoroughness, sense of honour to showcase the deeply rooted African humanism of the African cultures. A spiritual revolution is needed, he writes.20 The researches answer to the preliminary question is: Yes, an Afro-centric model and understanding is needed. Thus, sources from African organizations and sources with African authors (solely or represented) are predominantly being chose for desktop research. Under 6.1 it is pointed out that African digital solutions are usually confined to the local market and do not reach globally. That can be considered a weakness, looking only into a Northern model of globalisation and digital economy. In relation to the acute climate crisis this seems to be an outdated model of doing business thus the local reach and relation could be seen as a strength as well.
7.3 Brief country overview on key factors with regard to the research question in the EAC
The indicators chosen21 aim to provide a selected yet informed picture regarding the narrowed down scope of the countries´ entrepreneurship environment and ecosystem in the EAC and its members. Where other sources are included, those are cited accordingly.
18 An Afrocentric model of teaching and learning for example is proposed by Professor Peter Akinsola Okebukola of Nigeria’s Lagos State University via a Cultural-Techno-Contextual Approach (see: http://ctcapproach.com/, assessed April 20, 2020). 19 Tony Elumelu Foundation (see: https://www.tonyelumelufoundation.org/news/what-is-africapitalism, assessed April 20, 2020). 20 Felwine Sarr, Afrotopia, Berlin 2019 (Paris 2016), page 156. 21 Sources: CIA: The World Factbook, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ accesed May 5, 2020 / OECD Data Collection, https://www.oecd.org/statistics/data-collection accessed May 5, /2020 / Internet World Stats, https://www.internetworldstats.com , accessed on May 5, 2020 / The World Bank: Open Data; https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IC.BUS.DFRN.XQ?locations=KE-UG-RW-TZ-SS-BI, accessed May 15, 2020 / UNCHE: Institutions, website accessed on May 10, 2020 / Louis Kasekende: Remarks at the Public Dialogue on Higher Education in Uganda (Bank of Uganda), 2017 / uniRank: 2020 Burundi University Ranking, accessed May 9, 2020 / Charles Wolhuter et al.: Education in East and Central Africa, 2014. 24
Figure 3: Country overview for Rwanda, South Sudan, and Tanzania
25
Figure 4: Country overview for Uganda, Kenya, and Burundi
26
Regarding this first set of indicators understood in the context of entrepreneurial activity, some differences and some similarities catch the eye:
o The median age of all countries is similar, revolving around 16-20 years of age o Youth (student age) unemployment rate is high in South-Sudan and Rwanda, low in Tanzania, Kenya and Burundi and in between in Uganda o Internet penetration rates are very high in Kenya (above Austria for example), comparably quite below that in Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania as well as very low in Burundi and South Sudan. o Urban population is highest in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and comparatively low in the rest of the set. o The percentage of students in comparison to the population is at around 0.1% in Burundi and Tanzania, twice that in South Sudan and significantly higher in Uganda (0.6%), Rwanda (0.7%) and Kenya (1.0%). o Percentage of households with electricity is comparable in Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania (in cities as well as in urban areas), quite below that in Uganda and lowest in Burundi and South Sudan. Burundi shows a notable rural-urban difference. o Mobile phone subscription coverage is almost perfect in Kenya, at very high still in Tanzania
and Rwanda, with Uganda and Burundi at around 60% and just above half that in South-Sudan between EAC between countries
Differencesand similarities o The “ease of doing business”-factor is highest in Rwanda and Kenya, comparably quite good in Uganda with Burundi, Tanzania, and South Sudan being far behind (and in that order). o This is reflected in the time it needs to start a new business: in Rwanda an entrepreneur needs 4 days, in Burundi 5 days (in Germany this is 8 days, South Africa 40 days), 13 days in South Sudan, just above 20 days in Uganda and Kenya and 29.5 days in Tanzania. o Female ownership of companies is high in Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda, and around half those values in Uganda, Tanzania and South Sudan.
To gain a better picture, it would have been valuable to get data on the number of newly registered corporations or the density of new business entry per 1,000 working-age people, to acquire a better picture of women in tech, yet for most of the countries no data was available.
7.4 Economy and talent: A 2017 forecast
The African Business Outlook Survey undertaken and provided by The Economist in 2017 shows a region on the rise and moving at a pace with differentiated prospects for its members22. “Kenya is one of the countries forecast to be among the fastest-growing economies globally in 2017. The country forms part of the East African Community, a regional grouping of countries, excluding Ethiopia, whose economies are forecast to grow significantly faster than the Sub-Saharan Africa average. Respondents’ firms with operations in the East Africa region benefit from regional integration, a growing middle class, and growth supported by investments in the build-out of infrastructure. Nonetheless, challenging issues include regulatory uncertainty (for example, in Tanzania) and interest-rate caps (for example, in Kenya), infrastructure gaps (for example,
22 The Economist: 2017 African Business Outlook Survey, London, 2017. 27
Uganda), inadequate access to foreign exchange (for example, in Ethiopia) and a rapidly evolving competitive landscape. ”23. Placement of top African markets in 2022 (query among companies globally) would be: 3. Kenya, 7. Tanzania, 13. Rwanda, 20. Uganda. As top challenges the following are named: Regulatory (uncertainty) / currency (volatility) / talent (sourcing quality talent). Especially the quest for the right talent shows that entrepreneurship education is in high demand and that a close cooperation with the stakeholders from the industry is a path to take, if not taken already. The talent´s profile needed for the 21st century can be related to that for example proposed by the OECD, thus finding people with appropriate skills, retaining talent, getting the balance right between local and expatriate staff, reinforcing a culture that is client-focused, and promoting innovation and flexibility. Nevertheless, the profiles need to be adapted specifically to the local markets meaning that local talent is ideal and needs to be employed. An observation regarding talent distribution shows the global interconnectedness of education and skill sets: “The flow of talent is not just in one direction, from developed markets to developing markets. For example, given how software applications leveraging mobile networks and phones have taken off in Africa, some skillsets honed in Africa are in high demand in other parts of the world.”24. A valid spotlight has been shed at the beginning of 2020 on the attitudes and opinions on African youth through a survey: “Was denkt Afrikas Jugend?” (What African youth´ are believing?)25. 82% are hopeful, that the future of the continent will be bright and it is getting better. 51% derive their identity from their country, not their tribe or family. When getting 100 Dollar US, 49% would invest in their education, 16% would save the money, and 13% would invest in an own business. An own business would be opened in the following areas or industries: 17% in retail trade, technology in general 10%, agriculture 10%, finance 8%, and telecommunication 7%. The obstacles in doing business and creating their own business named, were: no working capital 53%, governmental regulations 11% and restrictions, corruption 10%, education 6%, and economic uncertainty 6%. Looking at digital entrepreneurship in particular evokes the question of the status-quo regarding ICT talent in the EAC. Africa-wide software talent acceleration startup “Andela” sources software developer talent and connects them to companies worldwide leveraging remote work. They are active in three EAC countries, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda. In 2019, Andela laid off 400 junior software developers due to a lack of placement opportunities and instead hired more mid- and senior level talent.26 This shows that there is an existing market available, but the skillset of eagerly selected and additionally trained junior talent was not yet sufficient for their job placements.
23 Ibid. 24 Ibid. 25 Die Süddeutsche: Was denkt Afrikas Jugend?, Wochenchronik, 14.-20. March 2020. 26 Techcrunch; https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/17/africa-focused-andela-cuts-400-staff-as-it-confirms-50m-in- revenue , assessed May 28, 2020. 28
Figure 5: Origin of Andela developer recruits 07/2018-09/2019
Another insight about software and ICT talent in the EAC can be obtained looking at the Kenya- founded job platform Fuzu. They offer jobs in 10 African countries, Kenya and Uganda the only ones in the EAC at time of research. Under the category “ICT & software”, which also includes job offers for graphics design and innovation, Kenya showed 22 open positions and Uganda one, including internships.27 Thus, we are presented with a mixed picture: One of exceptional economic growth and one of lack of job opportunities in ICT for beginners.
7.5 Entrepreneurship education in the EAC, in general and in specific
Moving on from macro level data (country profiles) towards meso and micro level desktop descriptions, the following represents the findings of the desktop research in those fields. Sources, mainly form African authors, African institutions or institutions in which African professionals or institutions are represented were consulted. The key terms of the research question were used to reframe them with supporting and differentiating questions. These are presented in the headline to the chapter. In order to assess the promotion of digital entrepreneurship education, one would have to briefly look at education systems in general and education policy, including a focus on entrepreneurship. This will be done in regard to the EAC and its members. The data presented are form a cursory research not aiming at a completion of data. At first a brief assessment of the situation in the EAC regarding collaboration on various levels. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) concludes that South-South knowledge transfer gains momentum, proposing: “African universities that are more advanced in promoting entrepreneurship can support less advanced universities through South-South knowledge transfer. In fact, some universities already practice such activities.”28. Collaboration of the Public Services and the Private Sector and the integration of structures and networks for the promotion of entrepreneurial culture is needed and implemented in different ways and at varied stages. In a successful modelling entrepreneurship programs cater to the local needs on varying levels of locality. The US Department of Commerce, looking at the factors of and for a successful entrepreneurial education system, concludes: “Most people are familiar with the traditional centres of university-based innovation and entrepreneurship such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and its connection to the Greater Boston
27 Fuzu; www.fuzu.com/jobs/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&searchTerm=Software+development , assessed June 15, 2020. 28 Stefan Lilishkis, Brigitte Halbfass, Verena Liszt for DAAD: Case studies and recommendations for action on the "Practice Partnerships" programme, 2017. 29 entrepreneurship ecosystem. But over the last decade, more universities, community colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), and regional state colleges have embraced innovation and entrepreneurship as critical to their mission and role in their communities.” 29. An interesting aspect mentioned in this paper is the focus on the encouragement of the faculty entrepreneur, an external expert integrating entrepreneurship into the faculty tenure and selection process, supporting an increasing faculty connection to outside partners - through externships, engagement with business, and targeted resources for start-up creation. With regard to the challenges, young entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs (a rising demand and skill- set in major companies) face entering the complex business world, Ashoka (Social Entrepreneurship Network, supported by McKinsey) states, that “business education that is too theoretical and out of sync with companies’ day-to-day needs.” 30. Asking for changes in education, a concentration and integration on the real world of business outside of classrooms and university systems is proposed, including: More focus on Case Studies; Linking curricula to real-world business challenges and contests; Inviting business executives to deliver lectures; Encouraging student-in-residence programs31. A survey among British universities draws similar conclusions32: “University courses are too often limited to the theoretical. While this may develop students’ problem-solving skills, most students have no idea how to actually implement a real solution to a problem they have written about in an essay or thesis.” As a remedy, the internship at companies or start-ups during the study program is recommended, especially in up and coming sectors like Artificial Intelligence and FinTech. The already cited study by DAAD does name some of the above-mentioned challenges as well and advocates cooperation among universities33. At the project and project implementation level at universities challenges would be countered via combining the entrepreneurship competencies of all participants: “ (1) Network projects more intensively – among each other and; (2) Strengthen investments in business start-ups; (3) Combine the entrepreneurial-educational skills of all participants; (4) Strengthen project financing; (5) Organize support for projects.” 34. This could be a model for EAC cooperation via pooling resources, students and lecturers exchange, networking via various platforms, communal workshops and academies, creating design thinking centres, showcasing wind-breaker products as initiators of future business ideas communally, student market research for companies in all EAC countries. A study on Zimbabwean Entrepreneurship Education at universities delivers similar results35: “the lack of a practical component was the missing link in fully addressing socio-economic needs”. The author points out that the lack of job opportunities fuels the rise of entrepreneurship classes and topics, as entrepreneurship is seen as a path to self-employment and job creation for others later on. Especially, there “is need to usher in young entrepreneurs with a technical mind-set. University technological hubs should be used as springboards for students’ business ideas.” 36. A
29 U.S. Department of Commerce, The Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Economic Development Administration: The Innovative and Entrepreneurial University: Higher Education, Innovation & Entrepreneurship in Focus, 2013. 30 Ashoka Contributor Group: 10 Ways Universities Can Improve Entrepreneurship Education, New York, 2014. 31 Ibid. 32 Loris Raimo: What more might universities do to promote entrepreneurship in the UK?, London, 2017. 33 Stefan Lilishkis, Brigitte Halbfass, Verena Liszt for DAAD: Case studies and recommendations for action on the "Practice Partnerships" programme, 2017. 34 Ibid. 35 Gwendoline Vusumuzi Nani: Entrepreneurship Intervention: Towards Transforming Education in Institutions of Higher Learning: A Case of One Public University in Zimbabwe, Journal of Education and Practice Vol.10, No.35, 2019. 36 Ibid. 30 paper on South African entrepreneurship education signifies similar constraints and hopes and points to action based teaching methods or experiential learning and start-up hubs and incubators as agents of change37. In the EAC, in 2009 a study was conducted on the Tanzanian entrepreneurship education38. The lack of experiential learning, as well as the lack of business experience of the lecturers themselves, is discussed and change is recommended: “Educational institutions are expected to encourage students, graduates and researchers with commercially viable business ideas to develop them into companies, by providing a range of support services within the institution (incubators, financing, mentorship, etc.), thus facilitating the creation of academic spin-off companies.” 39. The measures proposed include training programs for entrepreneurship lecturers; project teaching, linkage to local businesses and communities. The Rwandan government developed a vision for growth and evaluated it in 2019, considering entrepreneurship education alternatives in and for Rwanda40. The issue of culture and cultural change with regard to an entrepreneurial mindset was mentioned beyond the above-named challenges addressing dome restraints and hopes: “The perception that young Rwandans are not sufficiently interested in putting effort into earning money and gaining a profit; therefore, they wanted to increase young people’s sense of competition and appreciation of the value of money. The hope that entrepreneurship education will convince Rwandans to be more willing to take on debt in order to grow their businesses, as well as teach potential entrepreneurs how to manage debt responsibly. The need to educate young people about obeying laws, respecting contracts, and paying taxes, although otherwise they saw economic activity as essentially an individual matter of an entrepreneur exploiting opportunities to earn a profit.” A supportive environment and entrepreneurial ecosystem is of great relevance, especially the financial side is regarded as being crucial: “Entrepreneurs need access to resources in order to put their ideas into action – without those resources, “entrepreneurship” may really mean “barely surviving”. Loans also have to be approached with great caution, since those living in precarious conditions are often confronted with emergencies that can cause them to fall behind on their debts.”41. The Republic of South Sudan in formulating its education strategic plan 2017-202242 recognizes the importance of the countries unique Alternative Education System (AES), which will continue to play a central part in the education system for years to come. A focus on TVET (vocational education) for the ICT segment will feed into the university education system along the way. The AES (reaching 200,000 individuals in 2012) offers learning opportunities to children and adults who either have never attended formal education or have attended school but dropped out and are not likely to re-enrol. Facing the challenges of infrastructures demolished by 21 years civil war, the government states that to increase employability of graduates for national development and the demand of the global market special attention will be given to appropriate education systems.
37 Fawzy Basardien, Chris Friedrich, Michael Twum-Darko: Evidence-Based Practices of Promoting Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions in Africa, Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, Vol. 8, No. 5, 2016. 38 Donath. R. Olomi, Deo Sabokwigina: Entrepreneurship Education in Tanzanian Business Schools: A Nationwide Survey
(Given at the 12 International Conference on African Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development UDES), Dar es Salaam, 2010. 39 Ibid. 40 Government of Rwanda, World Bank Group: Future Drivers of Growth in Rwanda; Innovation, Integration, Agglomeration, and Competition, Washington, 2019. 41 Ibid. 42 The Republic of South Sudan, Ministry of General Education and Instruction: General education strategic plan South Sudan 2017-2022, Juba, 2017 / The World Bank (in response to a request of the government of South Sudan): Education in the Republic of South Sudan – Status and Challenges for a New System, Washington-Juba, 2012. 31
The resources found regarding the state and focus on entrepreneurship education in Burundi are scarce, especially from African sources and the governmental side. The International Monetary Fund states that “the government aims to usher in an entrepreneurial culture and prepare young candidates for entrepreneurship through vocational and professional education and higher education. Entrepreneurial preparation should be integrated into university curricula. Also, given the rise in unemployment among women and the young, special efforts should be made to increase awareness and interest among target groups. Among the specific measures to support future entrepreneurs, the principal effort will be the implementation of a reliable statistics system on the key sectors of economic activity, which will enable future investors to better identify investment opportunities and prepare projects.”43 Kenya pioneered on the continent in starting a master’s degree in entrepreneurship in the 1990s at its Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.44 In Kenya, the Commission for University Education (CUE) now reports 33 Bachelor (22), Master (9), PhD (1) and Postgraduate (1) programs including the term “entrepreneurship” at universities.45 In 2013, this number stood at 18 with more PHD and postgraduate diplomas, the same amount of master’s programs but significantly less Bachelor programs. The same report states that in 2013, eight universities had established entrepreneurship centres with Strathmore university and Kenyatta University being mentioned as best practices.46 Lastly, it states that the concept of “Integrated Entrepreneurship Education” (IEE) “has been a compulsory and examinable subject at all levels of school-based vocational training where the emphasis has been much stronger since the early 1990s”. A study discussing entrepreneurship education in Kenya proposes to shift the approach towards “creative application of knowledge and skills, the start-up and survival of business, and growth- related entrepreneurship education.” Those three, respectively, refer to idea generation through practical methods, business model development and start of execution, and learning about growth strategies through case study approaches and similar.47 Both on the policy and implementation side, numerous activities in regards to entrepreneurship education in Kenya have been put in place and are ongoing. For instance, CUE is driving efforts for more application-based curricula, which had culminated in a requirement in the “Universities Act 2012” that all curriculum development and reviews must include private sector input. While some research suggests that the rate of self-employed entrepreneurship graduates is still low48, there are various programs and initiatives working to deliver quality entrepreneurship education. One of them is through the UN program “Education for Sustainable Development in Africa” (ESDA), implemented at University of Nairobi and Kenyatta University, focusses on field-work to spur problem-solving skills.49 For Uganda, literature shows engagement in university-based entrepreneurship education already in the early 2000s. Universities in both rural and urban areas alike have entrepreneurship programs of various types and specializations, and already since the early 2000’s.50 51 On the website of the National Council of Higher education in Uganda has seven documents with
43 IMF Country Report No. 12/224, Burundi: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper II, 2012. 44 Bwisa: Towards the improvement of entrepreneurship education in Africa, 2019. 45 Kaijage et al.: Supporting Entrepreneurship Education in East Africa – Report for presentation to Stakeholders, 2013. 46 Kaijage et al., 2013. 47 Otuya et al.: A Proposed Approach for Teaching Entrepreneurship Education in Kenya, 2013. 48 Bwisa, 2019. 49 Kapfudzaruwa et al: Youth Entrepreneurship and Africa’s Sustainable Industrialization, 2018. 50 Magda Hewitt: Entrepreneurship, Training, Education and Job Creation, 2010. 51 A.B.K. Kasozi: The National Council for Higher Education and the Growth of the University Subsector in Uganda, 2002- 2012, 2016. 32
accredited higher education programs. If those are indeed all accredited tertiary entrepreneurship programs in the country, they sum up to 43 results searching each document for “entrepreneurship” (2008: 8, 2010: 8, 2011: 8, 2014: 4, 2015: 4, 2018: 9, 2019: 2). Counting entries under the word “entrepreneurship” on the Council’s online program list52 gives 37 results, 20 for Bachelor level and 2 for Masters level with the rest being postgraduate and graduate diploma as well as certificate courses. Despite the offer of entrepreneurship programs across the country, formal education seems to not have equipped most young entrepreneurs to set up their businesses, identify profitable and growth-oriented sectors, to choose innovative product lines or widen their activities into employment-creating expansion.53 The most common arguments on entrepreneurship education seem to be that is mostly academic and lacks the practical component. The book “Entrepreneurship, Training, Education and Job Creation” confirms this and states that in Uganda, “most lecturers do not seem to know enough about aims, contents and work methods of entrepreneurship education”. 54 Despite this, there seems to be a continuous effort towards improving the state of entrepreneurship education in Uganda. The National Council of Higher education in Uganda outlines in the 2017/2018–2019/2020 Strategic Plan55 states that it is one of five strategic directions of the council to “encourage entrepreneurship in Higher Education Institutions”. 6.5.1 A brief look at former recommendations for entrepreneurship education in the EAC In 2012 a study on the state of programs for entrepreneurship education and the support given in the ecosystem in the EAC was conducted by the University of Nairobi together with Plymouth University56. In 2012 the conclusions and critique from this report based on focus-group discussions with multiple stakeholders were:
o “There is general agreement that entrepreneurial education needs to be very significantly enhanced in East Africa and that this is not just a matter for business schools. (…) o There is general agreement that entrepreneurial education needs to feature at all levels of education. (…) o There is general agreement that future initiatives in East Africa should feature integrated, multi-sectoral approaches involving the development of context specific learning materials, programmes and curricula. o There is a high level of congruence between universally recognised definitions of entrepreneurship and what drives entrepreneurial success e.g. opportunity recognition and
Findings from Findings exploitation, and the views of stakeholders in East Africa. previousresearch o There is a high level of congruence between universally recognised approaches to support for entrepreneurial learning e.g. the importance of experiential learning over theoretical learning and the recognition of the importance of core skill-building and the views of stakeholders in East Africa.
52 UNCHE: Program list, website accessed on 10 May 2020. 53 GEM: Supporting Africa’s Young Entrepreneurs: an investment in job creation and future prosperity for all, 2012. 54 Ibid. 55 National Council for Higher Education: 2017/2018–2019/2020 Strategic Plan, 2017. 56 E. Kaijage, D. Wheeler, Dr R. Nebery: Supporting entrepreneurship education in East Africa, final report for presentation to stakeholders, University of Nairobi, Plymouth University, 2013. 33
o There is a high level of congruence between universally recognised approaches to the provision of direct support for entrepreneurial action e.g. mentoring, peer to peer learning and coaching, and the perceptions of stakeholders in East Africa. o Notwithstanding the congruence in perceptions noted above there may be cultural and social differences that prevail in different countries e.g. with respect to the relative importance and roles of different actors and the way in which entrepreneurship education may develop. o Stakeholders in the East African context perceive the broader societal and developmental
Findings from Findings merits of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education, and thus in the context of East
previousresearch African entrepreneurship there is support for a definition of entrepreneurship that embraces broader societal and developmental goals.”
These findings correlate with the findings of the desktop research undertaken here, focussing on networks, culture, ecosystems, narratives, didactics, inclusion, local spirit. Adding on to this from a 2020-perspective are the issues of: o Digitalisation as such o ICT and new technologies o Social entrepreneurship o Women entrepreneurship o Role models of and in the CCI o Social media o Informal sector structures and prospects o Lifelong learning in capacity building.
At the same time, the above-mentioned study was undertaken, another research highlights the reality of alumni from graduate programs in entrepreneurship in becoming an entrepreneur57. The rates of self-employment, aka founding a company, were falling in 2012. The ten lengthy interviews and case studies conducted suggest a mixed picture of the ecosystem, the entrepreneurs-to-be act in. On the one hand a favourable global economic upturn, a positive political climate, improving taxation and banking systems, strong family ties. On the other hand, lack of start-up capital, inhibitive banking and taxation, issues of trust, poor technology, corruption, and cheap imports from countries such as China. The authors state, criticising universities and their structure: “Amidst inflexible higher learning institutions, educators are challenged to innovate ways in which entrepreneurship courses will address issues that entrepreneurs face in Tanzania.”58. Looking at the state of the education system in the EAC, differences have to be considered. For example, in South Sudan the informal educational sector (as mentioned before) and the strong position of Technical and Vocational Trainings (TVET) besides university education, play an important role59. Here – as in university programs – qualified teachers and trainers are in demand,
57 Ernest Mwasalwiba; Heidi Dahles; Ingrid Wakkee: Graduate Entrepreneurship in Tanzania: Contextual Enablers and Hindrances, European Journal of Scientific Research Vol.76 No.3, pp.386-402, 2012. 58 Ibid, p. 387. 59 Dominic Odwa Atari et al.: Technical, Vocational, and Entrepreneurial Capacities in Southern Sudan: Assessment and Opportunities. Centre for Refugee Studies, York University, Toronto, 2009. 34 role models are looked for, financial support and access to financing is weak, partnerships and networks evolve too slow, improvement and ongoing evaluation is needed – among other issues. All in all, it can be said, that in 2020 entrepreneurship education at university level and in ICT has gained momentum. Being exposed to the various and differently mixed expectations of government, parents, industry, youth, donors, the institutions and programs struggle hard to keep up with current affairs and trends, with changing environments for education and entrepreneurship. In that, the institutions and programs in the EAC are dealing with challenges, universities worldwide are facing.
7.6 Qualifications and environment of the up and coming digital entrepreneur
What does society and economy look for, what are companies and entrepreneurs looking for in the way of relevant skills and mindsets for the rising young entrepreneur? In general, some ideas have been formulated by OECD, the UN, governmental bodies, university bodies and other institutions, researching industry demand. Beyond knowledge creation, main areas and skills on demand for the 21st century are: Creativity, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, character formation, metacognition, agile working, data literacy, problem solving strategies. All of these can be seen as part of an entrepreneurial formation and mindset. 7.6.1 The entrepreneurial mindset The entrepreneur is burdened with a difficult task: Effecting hope via creating jobs and prosperity from scratch via his or her extraordinary creativity and stamina in order to transform the African continent as described in the “Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want” blueprint by the African Union60. A popular vison of an Africa to come has been displayed in the blockbuster movie “Black Panther”, showing a proud and powerful image of things to come thus motivating young people. The talk is of an education with a purpose, as the New African magazine writes: “Good university programmes should integrate entrepreneurship and leadership training in their curriculum, so that they produce graduates who have the soft-skills to play an impactful role in Africa’s economic transformation, and who come out not as job- seekers but as job creators.” 61. Demands, universities and their offers have to acknowledge, to cope with, to fulfil even. The OECD as an international body dealing with the evaluation of education and underwriting the importance of an economic liberal mindset, has looked into the entrepreneurial values, systemic factors, a skillset, and education as well62. The importance of the individual with its needs and motivation, with its specific environment as of the cultural and social set up, the belief system and values as important as the financial and technical environment is stressed. “Very often becoming an entrepreneur is the result of a personal decision-making process in which one assesses opportunities and their costs (being employed, being unemployed, being one´s own boss) and risk- reward relationships (what is at stake). Values, beliefs and behaviours, embedded in the culture of a country and a place, influence this decision as do the individual´s knowledge, skills, competences and experience.”63. This points towards the value of the personal experience in learning and the active competency acquisition approach.
60 African Union: Agenda 2063: The Africa we want; https://au.int/en/agenda2063/overview, assessed March 9, 2020. 61 New African Magazine: African Universities, Education with a Purpose, 21/09/2017, https://newafricanmagazine.com/15789/, assessed April.4., 2020. 62Andrea-Rosalinde Hofer, Jonathan Potter: University Entrepreneurship Support: Policy Issues, Good Practices and Recommendations (OECD, LEED document), 2010 - http://www.oecd.org/education/imhe/46588578.pdf, assessed April 4, 2020. 63 Ibid. 35
Values, emotions and the ethical component of being an entrepreneur are addressed and related to later curricula creators and developers: “The dominance of business planning and venture creation modules leaves little room for addressing values, emotions and the ethical component of being an entrepreneur. In business planning courses, students are often exposed to a very sequential and functional based approach to understanding and learning about venture development, which leaves little room for creativity, values, emotions and the ethical component of being an entrepreneur.” 64. The conceptual framework of competencies of OECD relies on Man et. al.65 as shown below (taken from OECD report).
Table 2: Competency areas of entrepreneurs
Stressing the context of entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial activities, authors of the London Business School state that among the relevant and various stakeholders of the entrepreneurial ecosystem “awareness about government entrepreneurship programs and initiatives is often low among the target group. It is important to use diverse information channels, including government web portals, one-stop support centres, SMS campaigns and interaction with representative bodies, to promote awareness and increase take-up of small business support initiatives.” 66. Especially women and youth lack access to or knowledge of valid information or contact to professional networks or mentors. Advocacy of internships and experiential learning plus mentoring at different stages and ages, as seen before, is at the centre of the UK researchers’ findings. Taking into account national cultures approach to risk taking being a predominant factor in becoming an entrepreneur, the researchers advise on addressing and mentioning failure as something that is not to be ashamed of. “In economies where entrepreneurship is booming, failure is seen as part of the process – in fact, the feeling is that if you never experience failure, you are not being innovative enough.”67 is the somewhat short-sighted finding. Failure would need to be discussed on a broader and deeper basis beyond stating an Anglo-American paradigm, which, as research might show, not always has produced optimal results.
64 Hofer, Potter – ibid. 65 Man Th. W.Y., Theresa Lau, K.F. Chan: The competitiveness of small and medium enterprises. A conceptualization with focus on entrepreneurial competencies, Journal of Business Venturing 17, 200s – taken from Hofer, Potter. 66 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, Report 2016/17, Babson College, London Business School. 67 Ibid. 36
A focus on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) being one of the predominant forms of enterprise and entrepreneurial activities in EAC would show that these are the drivers of economic growth and employment not to mention women with their own culture of risk taking. As Nobel prize winners Banerjee and Duflo have shown68, SMEs do have their own reasoning in countries not belonging to the global North. OECD in a 2017 report69 reflects on the importance of the “gig economy” (flexible employment arrangements, that complement or substitute for full‐time jobs) for self-employed micro-entrepreneurs, this being triggered and supported by digitalization and globalization. This might generate digital entrepreneurship education need, with information and hands-on experience of globally demanded skills being supplied. 7.6.2 The entrepreneurial ecosystem To ´grow´ and ´nurture´ the successful entrepreneur the right environment, the fitting ecosystem is needed – to stay within the metaphorical realm of nature. The paradigm of the entrepreneurship ecosystem gained momentum over the last decade (especially with regard to start-up success and failure) acknowledging the complexity of our world describing the workings of it as ´systems´ that are interconnected via various feedback-mechanism influencing the state of affairs in unforeseen ways. Some models have been created to describe the ecosystem and its functions. All of them identify the following ´players´ or factors or domains or constituents influencing such an ecosystem: Market / Need for Human Capital / Education / Finance / Culture / Policy / Networks, Support Systems. The biological metaphors are being taken further as in the discussion, again especially about high growth start-ups, two models emerged, that of the ´plantation´ versus that of the ´rainforest´70. The idea behind modelling is to replicate the favourable conditions of such a high innovation output place like Silicon Valley elsewhere on this planet. For this, not the ingredients (those constituents named above) but the recipe (the combination of the ingredients) is said to be important. Yet even though the author recognizes the importance of emotions and culture, the American Way of doing or understanding business predominates, proposing that the entrepreneur (or creative disruptor as described by Peter Schumpeter in the 1920ies already) of that nature is a universal human being or role model. The rules of the rainforest accordingly are rules of US-American cultural origin (which does not imply or mean, that those are wrong) yet they might have to be adapted to other cultural sets or mixed – see the metaphor of the recipe – in a different a new way. Those rules are: “Rule #1: Break rules and dream. / Rule #2: Open doors and listen. / Rule #3: Trust and be trusted. / Rule #4: Experiment and iterate together. / Rule #5: Seek fairness, not advantage. / Rule #6: Err, fail, and persist. Rule #7: Pay it forward.”71. A more differentiated approach to analysing the ecosystem has led to the conclusion that each ecosystem is different (besides sharing similar characteristics) and a process-oriented approach is needed: “Efforts to create or, more realistically, cultivate entrepreneurial ecosystems need to develop an individualised approach that works sympathetically with a region’s existing entrepreneurial assets.” 72. The process-oriented approach looks for the systemic interconnection
68 Abhijit V. Banerjee, Esther Duflo: Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the New Way to Fight Global Poverty, New York City, 2011. 69 OECD: Entrepreneurship at a Glance 2017, OECD Publishing; https://www.oecd- ilibrary.org/employment/entrepreneurship-at-a-glance-2017_entrepreneur_aag-2017-en, assessed April 11, 2020. 70 Victor W. Hwang: The Rainforest: How „Chicago Thinking“ explains Silicon Valley, Chicago, 2012. 71 Ibid.
72 Colin Mason, Ross Brown: Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Growth Oriented Entrepreneurship, Background paper prepared for the workshop organised by the OECD LEED Programme and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, 2014. 37 of the constituents of the ecosystem, understanding them as processes or systems not as stable actors: “It recognises that HGFs (High Growth Firms) flourish in distinctive types of supportive environment. Distinguishing features of entrepreneurial ecosystems include the following: a core of large established businesses, including some that have been entrepreneur-led (entrepreneurial blockbusters); entrepreneurial recycling – whereby successful cashed out entrepreneurs reinvest their time, money and expertise in supporting new entrepreneurial activity; and an information- rich environment in which this information is both accessible and shared. A key player in this context is the deal-maker who is involved in a fiduciary capacity in several entrepreneurial ventures. Other important aspects of an entrepreneurial ecosystem include its culture, the availability of start-up and growth capital, the presence of large firms, universities and service providers.” 73. Thus, the education system is playing an important role in this interconnected environment reaching out to (and being part of) every corner and level or playing field of the ecosystem, especially in working with the regions´ existing assets. The ecosystem of education nevertheless not only consists of tertiary level education. This level is dependant of its forerunners and as such, entrepreneurship education at university level feeds form qualified pupils and students of the other two levels. Or, being an adaptable system, form vocational trainings institutions of various kinds or other practise related education institutions. Here the interconnectivity of an ecosystem is clearly visible and measure to promote digital entrepreneurship should take promotions in those levels into account. The promotion of entrepreneurship and the positive public reception is of high priority in the creation of a favourable ecosystem. Especially the ´spill-overs` of successful entrepreneurial activities (such as job and wealth creation), yet even more so the activities of the successful entrepreneur as an angel investor, as a mentor, a venture capitalist, a board member or even a lobbyist with the government should be recognized and publicized 74.
Entrepreneurship ecosystems are an important concept because they acknowledge that a multitude of actors and support functions are necessary for effective venture creation. Ecosystems are widely looked at as interlinked between actors, roles and functions that are geared towards promoting entrepreneurship. Isenberg’s widely used framework names six core functions and their descriptions as displayed in Figure 6.
To come up with relevant recommendations for support provided by a university, it should be acknowledged that entrepreneurs and universities are embedded in ecosystems of different sizes and stages – recommendations should consider these contexts. “Size” refers to ecosystems that can be looked at on city, national, and even regional (EAC) level. Some functions such as entrepreneurial culture or provision of skills need to happen on a city level. Others such as an enabling policy environment also happen on national levels, while some such as financing can be tapped into on multiple levels such as city, nation, or even region as investors potentially invest beyond their geographical location. “Stages” refers to how dense, well connected, and specialized an ecosystem is75. Other factors such as fluidity are mentioned in literature but omitted here as they seem to be necessary and are referred to as necessary in ecosystems such as the Silicon Valley.
73 Ibid. 74 Daniel Isenberg (Babson Global): The Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Strategy as a New Paradigm for Economic Policy: Principles for Cultivating Entrepreneurship, Dublin, 2011. 75 Kauffman Foundation: Measuring an entrepreneurial ecosystem, 2019. 38
© Daniel Isenberg 2009
Figure 6: Domains of the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem
Furthermore “density“ is a qualifying factor and means density of employment in young SME’s and start-ups and especially in the digital sector as well as density of formal support networks such as hubs and incubators. Addressing “connectivity” does focus on better flows of information, resources, and talent and can be looked at is relevant as a measure of entrepreneurs finding and getting what they need fast.76 Finally, the degree of “specialization” measures the way in which entrepreneurs receive support. It is relevant in the East African context in comparison to well-developed ecosystems because in early stages of ecosystems, the first actors need to render the full stack of support to start-ups. As more support agents emerge, specialization on different stages of start-up journeys and sectors happens. Ecosystems are a systemic approach to enable venture creation through the law of probability, i.e. the better the ecosystem, the more quality ventures emerge in a certain region. To consider the situation of rural universities as well as countries with earliest stage ecosystems, a statement by Mason and Brown (2014) is worth considering: Ecosystems often “are discussed as if they emerged fully formed”, not appreciating the pathway there. Isenberg’s77 first two of nine principles to create ecosystems are to “stop emulating Silicon Valley”78 and instead to “shape the ecosystem around local conditions” underlining the importance of universities and entrepreneurship initiatives to strategically build based on local conditions instead of blueprints
76 Kauffman Foundation: Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Building Playbook 3.0, accessed May 11, 2020. 77 Daniel Isenberg: How to start an Entrepreneurial Revolution, 2010. 78 Ibid. 39 working elsewhere. As research shows, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to building an ecosystem. It is a multi-stakeholder process in which especially the needs and perspectives of entrepreneurs, NGOs, investors, foundations, government, corporates, and academia should be included79. Steven Koltai, who has formerly been engaged in ecosystem analyses e.g. in Ghana and Uganda, provides a way to think of necessary activities that need to be fulfilled in such ecosystems through his “six + six entrepreneurship ecosystem model”80. The six core activities needed in ecosystems are (i) identification, (ii) training, (iii) connecting & sustaining, (iv) funding, (v) policy enablement, and (vi) celebration of entrepreneurs. Identifying talented students that are best placed to be successful in digital entrepreneurship in a certain context, providing useful training to them and celebrating successes even this locally are certainly core activities that can be readily done at universities. The other functions are not core activities of universities and need external collaboration and connections. To enable those, an entrepreneurship promotion initiative must develop a theory of how entrepreneurs can be best supported through the available resources. Learning from other universities and ecosystems slightly more advanced and tapping into research such as by Argidius Foundation on effective enterprise development support81 with focus on Central America and Africa82 will best guide strategic action without the necessity of reinventing something that is already there. Combining Isenberg’s and Koltai’s insights on entrepreneurship ecosystems, the role of a university can be to identify entrepreneurial talents who are trained to acquire the necessary human capital to identify and build market-relevant ventures. Furthermore, universities can build a local entrepreneurial culture by celebrating local success stories and thus showing that entrepreneurship is a career option. Universities can have an active stake in other functions as well, be it directly through campus competitions and award money, by connecting to other stakeholders, and more.
7.7 Culture: The water the entrepreneur is born into and has to swim in
It has been argued and shown, that ´culture´ or socio-cultural factors do play a decisive role in the formation of the entrepreneur. Pointing to the widely accepted research and models of Trompenaars, Hampden-Turner, and Hofstede with their dimensions rotating around time, power, gender, proximity, hierarchy, control, rationality, we want to briefly show two EAC country profiles on the Hofstede dimensions83 considering promotional activities accordingly.
The examples shown below do show similarities, and especially on “uncertainty avoidance”, the “power distance”, and the “individualism” dimension. Considering the scheme, one might think about how to avoid the dilemma of presenting a stereotyped “American type entrepreneur” putting his individuality loudly upfront thus forgetting his embeddedness in a societal system to a community focussed on social cohesion. Along those lines promotion of entrepreneurship needs to be discussed individually for each country.
79 Nadgrodkiewicz: Building Entrepreneurship Ecosystems, 2014. 80 Koltai Co: Website Steven Koltai, accessed May 8, 2020. 81 Argidius Foundation: Learning to SCALE effective enterprise development (YouTube playlist), accessed April 28, 2020. 82 Argidius Foundation: What We Do (Website), accessed April 28, 2020. 83 https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison, assessed April 19, 2020 – the numbers in the charts showing the percentage (0 to 100 scale) of dominance of the dimension (100 = very dominant). 40
Figure 8: Country Dimensions for Tanzania by Hofstede
Figure 7: Country Dimensions for Kenya by Hofstede Further insights can be gained by the research of Richard D Lewis84 who postulates, that Sub- Saharan African cultures are “multi-active – warm, emotional, loquacious, impulsive”85 – a rather broad geographical approach. These cultures attach great importance to family, feelings, relationships, and people in general, liking to do many things at the same time with a poor following up on agendas. In business, relationships (best face-to-face) and connections are seen as more important than products. Late on delivery dates, little interest in schedules and deadlines, a nonlinear understanding of time and not recognizing the importance to timetables for those linear cultures, flexible, frequently changing plans, strong in improvisation, charismatic and diplomatic, tactfully circumventing regulations, entertaining lavishly: all these are traits Lewis attributes to a multi-linear culture86. Even though the picture painted is broad, generalised, and stereotypical, it provides a framework and some ideas on promoting entrepreneurship. Taking this into account in order to avoid failure might prove useful. Especially in regard to storytelling and creating a locally accepted narrative of entrepreneurship, media resonance and individual resonance, the above-mentioned factors might provide some guidance for thought. The same is true for framing entrepreneurial interventions especially when addressing the entrepreneurship mindset. A brief media and cultural narratives research, covering the years 2018 to 2020 produces pop- cultural loudly acclaimed stories of success, role models, big money, zest, and self-esteem. Randomly selected headlines on topics and people as well as companies read87: Kenya`s Twiga Foods Closes ¢10.3M Series A Investment Round / Heidi Lovett of Swerve Robotics on plans to ignite enthusiasm for STEM in Botswana´s youth / My 9-to5 made me too comfortable, so I
84 Richard D. Lewis: The Cultural Imperative, Global Trends in the 21st Century, New York 2003. 85 Ibid. 86 Ibid. 87 Research in: New African, The Africa Report, and Ayiba Magazine (articles or posts or podcasts). 41 became an entrepreneur / Sangu Delle, Defying the odds / Eddie Ndopu: Positively able and pushing boundaries / Rebecca Gyumi (Tanzania): Education activist saying “Girls” not “Brides” / Nextgen: Introducing PUBLISEER a digital publishing platform for African creatives / South-Sudan: Micro-Finance Diaries with Yenig Lokule of Rural Finance Initiative (RUFI) / Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: The way forward: Resource mobilization is key / Our Future made in Africa / Ozwald Boateng: I am passionate about where Africa goes, and should go / Acha Leke: Africa´s $300 billion opportunity: Tax revenue / Dr. Carlos Lopes: Africa is ready for a big revolution … but we need a new narrative / What role for women in Africa´s future / “Africapitalists” hold the key to Africa`s Future / Kenya, the world´s fintech lab / 50 Trailblazers under 50: Made in Africa! / 50 influential women in business / Tech Hubs not Hype / David Adjaye: I´d like to see future African cities that have lessons of our history / Start-up stories: Exposure robotics academy. The fact is: The topic of entrepreneurship draws media attention and public interest everywhere. A limited search of the stories in African magazines does provide some proof that success stories, portraits of able individuals, stories of problems being solved, and interviews with people having something to say seem to find the interest of readers and journalists alike, thus bearing chances for the promotion of digital entrepreneurship.
7.8 On Social Entrepreneurship
In his book “A World of Three Zeros – The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions”88, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus argues the case for the social entrepreneur as an agent of change. He proposes an end to inequality and a sustainable economy as well as a change from job-seekers to job-creators through an entrepreneurial mindset. Key to this change is the young generation, technology and good governance including a balanced, resilient and just legal and financial infrastructure plus business in the sense of a company as a tool mainly to solve an urgent problem, not to make money solely. Yunus is convinced that the human being is a social being striving for a communal benefit of mankind: “Social business isn’t just an essential tool for resolving the crisis that humankind faces. It also represents a wonderful expression of human creativity – perhaps the highest form of creativity that humans are capable of.” 89. The idea of social business resonates. Young people strive to create a better world to live in and don´t mind making money on the way towards it. Telling the stories of successful social entrepreneurs might motivate and stimulate in countries where social values are geared towards the community without neglecting the individuals´ desire to be financially well off. Similarly, the financial tool of crowdfunding resonates with likeminded people, providing a different way to jumpstart projects. Examples from the EAC show that social business is underway in its member states using modern technology and the global market. Sharon Adongo, a women entrepreneur from Kenya and founder of UWAZI technology consulting states: “Our mission is to amplify social change in the Eastern African region. We believe that to be truly successful, non-profit organisations need appropriate technology and actionable data to successfully collaborate with their constituents, scale their programs, and unlock opportunities through insightful data. We provide thoughtful solutions that align to our partners’ mission, thereby amplifying social change.”90. Her advice to would be social entrepreneurs wanting to start a business is the same any entrepreneur would
88 Muhammad Yunus: A World of Three Zeros – The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions, New York, 2017. 89 Ibid. 90 Amplifying social change in Eastern Africa through technology – Ayiba Magazine, on UWAZI, interview with Sharon Adongo, founder, 2015. 42 hear: “Go ahead and start, then don’t stop. If there is a problem that bugs you enough, then by all means, provide a solution to that problem through your business. There is no amount of reading or research that will get you to a place where you feel completely confident that you should start the business, but research anyway and be willing to learn and tweak your ideas as you go along.” Two randomly chosen examples of small or even micro social businesses from Tanzania, run by women, briefly demonstrate the profound and solid basis of social entrepreneurship. They thrive on real problems and are driven by necessity, thus gaining momentum and acquiring stamina. Number one is the “Arusha Women Entrepreneurs Ltd”: A social enterprise established by David Mjuni based in Arusha city in Northern Tanzania. Established in 2008 but officially registered in 2010, it provides employment opportunities for disadvantaged and deprived communities. This organisation employs low-income women to process groundnuts that are slowly roasted/ground with no artificial sweeteners or preservatives. Number two is the “Diana Women Empowerment Organisation (DIWEO)”: An organisation established by Mama Farido in 1998 with 17 women. Its goal is to serve orphans, vulnerable children, youth, widows living with HIV/AIDS and older people. The headquarters are based in Dar Es Salam with branches in various other cities and regions in Tanzania. DIWEO. It started by looking after 20 orphans; meanwhile the number has reached 254. DIWEO has two orphanage centres, one in Tanga and another in Dar Es Salaam. Here real-life choices needed to be made to combat inequalities and to care for the needy. Weather the impulse to act is or was driven by religion, ethics, social instinct, a caring side is not important. Important is the fact, that change was the result of direct social entrepreneurial action. These stories can be related, the result be shown and communicated. Furthermore, it could be argued, that promoting social business and role models of social and business success might support promoting entrepreneurship and digital entrepreneurship as such in EAC. The same goes for a focus on women in tech and the creative industries as a heaven of small and medium enterprises, which will be briefly discussed in the next paragraphs. Another aspect to be mentioned is the expectation, that via practical problem solving, supported by social entrepreneurship and a creative solution focused and societal mindset, negative effects of climate change for Africa could be limited.
7.9 Focus on women
The struggle for gender equality, women’s rights and an attitude towards women in tech continues91. Even though legal systems might propose gender equality, the reality in most of the countries on this planet is different. Another important aspect of the discussion on equality is recognizing diversity as a driver of innovation. Diverse teams representing a variety of approaches and insights and application of skills are far more successful in business than non-diverse ones. Women’s entrepreneurship is vital for economic and social development and there is potential for high growth and change for the better. In 2014 Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, being the chairperson of the African Union Commission, outlined her vision of Africa in 50 years’ time, through “an email from the future” with regard to the “Agenda 2063 set by the AUC92. There she noted: “If I have to single out one issue that made peace happened, it was our commitment to invest in our people, especially the empowerment of young people and women. (…) As our societies developed, as our working and middle classes grew, as women took their rightful place in our societies, our recreational, heritage and leisure
91 See: OECD, Week 2012 – Gender Equality in Education, Employment and Entrepreneurship: Final Report to the MCM Paris, 2012. 92 https://au.int/sites/default/files/documents/33126-doc-02_email_from_the_future.pdf - assessed May 1, 2020. 43 industries grew: arts and culture, literature, media, languages, music and film.”93 pointing to the importance to wome